Two Way Rough
by george's firework
Summary: Teddy and Victoire have quite the eventful relationship, from things as simple as Victoire's cousin telling everyone about their relationship, to the more complex matter of drunken mistakes.
1. Second Time Around

**So, this fic is going to be based on a few select Lady Gaga songs. This is an entry for Vanity Sinning Starship Ranger's Next Generation Musical Challenge :)**

**Song: Second Time Around**

"_Teddy, she had her tongue halfway down your throat! And don't you dare insult my intelligence by telling me that she came onto you, you had your hands all over her!" Teddy opened his mouth to speak and Victoire held up a finger, her other hand holding her wand threateningly in front of his face. She had just been completely humiliated by him at Slughorn's Christmas party and she wouldn't take any of his excuses._

"_No, you were not "trying to push her away", you lying jerk! If you're trying to push someone away, you have your hands on their chest or their shoulders. If you're pulling someone closer you have your hands on their back, as you clearly did! Don't lie!" She shrieked at him and turned on her heel._

"_Come on, you know I love you Tora, you know I-" She cut him off by twisting round and sending a Bat Bogey Hex at him, something she had learnt from Ginny a long time ago. George had once even made a comment that hers was better than Ginny's, earning him a very personal experience with one of his sister's. She spun back around and stalked away from him up the corridor, her stilettos making loud, and threatening clicks on the stone floor._

"_Don't ever call me that again!" She yelled over her shoulder._

Victoire woke up with a gasp, wondering where on Earth she was. The room was a completely different colour to her pale blue space at home and there was a warm body lying beside her. Wait, what? Victoire was panicking when she remembered she had stayed at Teddy's last night and the arm currently slung over her waist and pulling her closer belonged to him. This small fact made everything slightly better but still she had to get home – her father was probably completely freaking out. She squirmed about, trying to get out of the bed without waking Teddy but it was no easy feat; his arm was pretty heavy.

"Tora?" Teddy mumbled, squinting up at her through sleep-heavy eyes. "Whuzzgoinon?" Victoire smiled at his charmingly sleep-induced state as she continued to carefully extract herself from his hold.

"I need to get home, Papa will surely be going out of his mind with anger and worry," she said and had almost managed to get out of his grip when he smiled sleepily at her.

"'Kay," he muttered, closed his eyes, then wrapped both his arms around Victoire's waist and pulled her back down onto the bed. She landed against his chest with a surprised 'oof!'

"Teddy, I need to go home," she complained with a laugh, not being able to prevent herself snuggling back into his arms with a contented sigh. He was so warm and strong and he made her feel so safe. And yet… that dream? Was it trying to tell her something? How was it she had come to trust him so much after what he had done?

"Noooooo… just stay a bit longer," Teddy mumbled against her bare shoulder, kissing her neck in a very persuasive manner. She rolled over and folded her arms on his chest, resting her chin on her hands as he smiled drowsily up at her. He pulled her further up his chest so he could kiss her easily. Their legs tangled together as they explored each other's mouths, despite already being very familiar, and Teddy held her with a tenderness that was so intimate she wanted to cry.

"Mmmmmmm, maybe I can stay for another hour or so," Victoire mused and Teddy smiled lazily. She giggled softly when his hair changed from the usual brown with turquoise highlights to a deep pink colour which had the texture of candy floss. She knew his hair only turned that shade and texture when he was feeling very loving.

His lips reclaimed hers, each touch becoming longer and more passionate as he rolled them over so he was lying on top of her, supporting his weight on his hands so he didn't squash her. Victoire pulled away, gasping for breath, and his lips moved down her neck. The door suddenly crashed open behind them and Victoire's eyes flew open in shock.

"Oh Merlin, I did not need to see that," Albus complained, covering his eyes. "Couldn't you guys have put a warning sign on the door, or something?" He groaned and Victoire scowled at him, simultaneously shooting a poisonous glare at Scorpius who was smirking at them, looking her up and down appreciatively. Teddy growled softly and Scorpius tore his eyes away, still smirking.

"Most people would knock," Victoire stated patronisingly, as if she were talking to a very small child. It was Albus's turn to glare.

"Yeah, well, in our defence we thought it'd just be Teddy," Scorpius declared and Albus frowned at him.

"Scorp, we came here to find Victoire…" he said and Scorpius sighed.

"Why is it that every time I come up with something smart that could get us out of trouble, you go and ruin it with your annoying ever-present honesty? Seriously, it's so irritating! Like that time when Professor Longbottom caught us trying to smuggle a Venomous Tentacula leaf out of the greenhouse, and I said it was for a special Potions project, then you went and blurted out that were planning on putting it in James's pyjamas! Merlin, control your mouth!" Scorpius ranted, then blushed when he realised everyone was staring at him. He cleared his throat delicately and picked an imaginary piece of lint from his shirt.

"How's about you boys go down to the kitchen, get yourselves a drink or something, and Tora and I will be with you in a minute?" The boys nodded, completely distracted by the promise of free food and drink, and disappeared downstairs.

Victoire and Teddy got dressed in a comfortable silence, each handing the other their respective pieces of clothing.

_She had her tongue halfway down your throat!_

The thought came, unbidden, to Victoire's head along with a vivid mental image of the moment when she had stumbled across them kissing. Urgh. She shuddered involuntarily, just as Teddy pulled her shirt up over her shoulders and started to button it up. He stopped abruptly and looked at her with concern.

"Are you alright?" He asked softly, his hands resting on her stomach.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied dismissively, looking away from him. He sighed and took her chin between his thumb and finger, gently forcing her to look at him.

"Please tell me what's wrong?" He asked softly, bending his head to give her a tender kiss. She wasn't sure quite what possessed her to turn her head so his lips only collided with her cheek. He tensed then. "Victoire?" He said; his voice sharp.

"We should get downstairs. The boys will be wondering what's taking us so long," she mumbled and pulled away from him, buttoning up her shirt as she hurried out of the door and downstairs. Teddy gazed after her for a long moment, an expression of perplexity on his face, and then followed her downstairs without bothering to put a shirt on.

Victoire bustled around the kitchen, searching in various cupboards for breakfast stuff while Scorpius's eyes followed her, mainly her ass, around the kitchen and Albus glared at him for staring at his cousin. Victoire sighed to herself as she stretched up to reach for the jam which was sitting on the top shelf of a cupboard.

"Something on your mind, Vic?" Albus asked worriedly, whilst simultaneously whacking Scorpius over the head. The younger boy yelped and tore his eyes away from Victoire to glare at Albus.

"Just a dream I had last night," Victoire murmured, popping some bread in the toaster and rummaging in the fridge for eggs to make pancakes with. "It was rather shocking, and something I'd taken care to forget about." Victoire wasn't aware that Teddy was listening from the stairs, wondering what she was chattering about.

"Well, what was the dream about?" Scorpius asked, staring at the food Victoire was finding now that he'd torn his eyes away from her body. The boys had looked in every single cupboard but Albus had forgotten that Teddy had put a charm on the cupboards to make them look empty, simply to stop James stealing all his food.

"A certain event at one of Slughorn's Christmas parties that Albus will remember, and you will too. At least, I'll assume you two can remember because James did decide to share at Christmas dinner that year." Teddy put his head in his hands, immediately knowing what she was talking about. That had been so awkward…

"_Hey, Teddy, Victoire, why aren't you guys sitting together and being sickeningly cute as usual?" Fred teased from his place beside Lily who thumped him on the arm for being an insensitive twat. The entire table shut up, because Fred's statement hadn't exactly been quiet, and turned to stare at either Victoire or Teddy. Ron tried to stare at both but failed miserably._

"_Yes, I'd been wondering that as well," Ginny mused from where she was sitting between Charlie and Harry, looking rather small. "Though, in a slightly less tactless manner," she said and directed a glare at her nephew._

"_They broke up!" James announced grandly and Ginny switched her death glare from her nephew to her son who ignored it, having been on the receiving end of it many a time. Scorpius, who could usually be found at the Potter house, smirked to himself. "Teddy cheated on Victoire at Slughorn's Christmas party," James continued quite cheerfully and Harry smacked himself in the face in an 'oh-why-does-my-son-have-no-brain-filter' kind of way as Ginny groaned and closed her eyes. There was a dead silence at the table._

_Victoire got up suddenly and ran from the room, her hands covering her face. Fleur and Gabrielle – Ginny frowned slightly and wondered what she was doing there – both got up and hurriedly followed her. Bill, who was unfortunately sitting directly across from Teddy, was staring at the boy with the expression of someone who has just encountered a baby Blast-Ended Skrewt. Harry and Albus were both glancing nervously between Bill and Teddy who was fidgeting in his seat and staring intently at the table. Luna was singing softly to herself at the end of the table, completely oblivious, and everyone else had made various excuses to get as far away from the table as possible._

"_Is this true, Ted?" Harry asked seriously, gripping Ginny's hand under the table to stop her getting her wand out and hexing his godson to oblivion. Ginny and Bill had always had a very strong relationship so she had spent a lot of time babysitting for him and Fleur before their own children came along. Plus, she and Teddy had once had a very large argument when he had broken her favourite picture of Harry and she hadn't quite forgiven him._

"_It was a slightly drunken mistake," Teddy mumbled and Bill completely exploded. Ginny would always have the scar from where that plate flew across the room and cracked on impact with her head._

"Oh yeah, I remember that. You turned down my offer of comfort," Scorpius muttered sulkily. Albus sighed and rolled his eyes.

"That's because, Scorp, your idea of comfort was treating her to dinner then, and I quote, "taking her back to your place for the rest of the evening" which made me feel kind of sick if I'm being completely honest." The two boys had a scowling competition which Scorpius won easily and were then distracted by Victoire setting a stack of steaming pancakes between them. They fell on it like rabid dogs.

Victoire found her shoes by the door and was just slipping them on when Teddy appeared, looking very guilty and apologetic. He attempted to wrap his arms around her waist in a comforting manner but she stepped neatly away from him and he sighed.

"Tora," he said quietly so the two attempting to eat and eavesdrop at the same time wouldn't hear. "You were fine this morning, love, so what's got into you?"

"Why are you even asking? I know you were listening, Teddy," she huffed and he looked at her with sheer perplexity written all over his face.

"How did you know?" There was no point denying anything when Victoire was angry.

"I saw you move several times. Honestly, you call yourself a Metamorphagus, you could have at least tried to blend in a little more." She walked away from him, looking for her coat. She was making no attempt to be quiet and Scorpius and Albus were watching with eager regard. Teddy picked up her coat and she stalked towards him.

"Give it here."

"Not until we've talked about this. Tora, we had such an amazing night, mind-blowing in fact," Al cringed at this, "so why are you so upset now? Did I say something in my sleep or are you just unsettled by your dream? It was just a dream."

"Why are you worried you said something in your sleep?" Victoire snapped suspiciously and Teddy gulped, looking at his feet shamefully. Victoire huffed, looking at him with disgust.

"I was drunk last night, and this morning I was caught up in the mood," she raged. "Who were you dreaming of then, Teddy? It obviously wasn't me or else you wouldn't be looking so mortified. And it was clearly someone else you are attracted to because this morning you were rather excited, weren't you? I guess I was just fooling myself when I thought I was the one provoking that reaction in you." Albus squirmed in his seat as Scorpius snickered.

"Please can someone just come and wash my brain clean of this?" Albus begged, clasping his hands together and looking up at the ceiling mournfully. Scorpius just chuckled harder.

"Tora, come on, can't we talk about this? I can't exactly control my subconscious…"

"Stop _calling _me that! Urgh, I knew I was wrong to give you a second chance!" She ripped open the door, having completely forgotten about her coat.

"What, you're breaking up with me over something I couldn't control?" Teddy yelled as she stormed down the path. She paused at the gate on hearing his question.

"I'm not breaking up with you for good… I just need to take a bit of a break, alright?" She turned away from him again.

"So who're you going to run off to now? Who's going to comfort you when I'm not around?" Teddy was furious and getting nasty. His hair turned black, never a good sign. "How're you going to get home, huh?"

"_Vous pouvez aller te faire foutre! _I'll walk!" Victoire spat over her shoulder and disappeared out of sight. Teddy slammed the door and turned to face Albus and Scorpius, breathing heavily.

"And… this just got awkward. Come on, Al, let's go tell Bill that Victoire isn't okay and we don't know where she is," Scorpius remarked cheerfully, hauled Albus up from the table and dragged his shocked cousin over to the fireplace. He chucked some Floo powder into the grate, stepped into the emerald flames and pulled Albus in with him, sending Teddy a jolly wave as he did so.

"Shell Cottage!" He declared merrily and they spun out of sight.


	2. No Way

When Victoire, Dominique and Louis arrived home from Hogwarts on the first day of the Christmas holidays they found their home to be a small hive of activity. Their mother hurried over to greet them, beaming happily as she embraced her three children all at once and they groaned.

"_Maman," _Victoire wheezed. "Can't breathe…" Fleur immediately let go of her children and examined them all closely, worry clear on her face as she looked over her youngest child.

"Louis, you're looking skinny," she declared and he cringed slightly. "And here I was worrying that all of zat 'Ogwarts food would have you all bloated when you came back to me. Well, it is no bother – we shall have you looking healthy in no time," she announced and whisked him into the kitchen. Victoire spotted her father and danced over to him, leaving her trunk in the middle of the floor for people to trip over.

"Papa!" She cried and hugged him enthusiastically, giving him a kiss on the cheek as she did so. Bill smiled gently at his eldest daughter and hugged her close. "What's going on?"

"Ah, I have missed you, my little victory," he said affectionately before he let her go. "We're preparing for your Uncle Charlie to arrive – he's staying here this Christmas and we're planning to welcome him with a surprise birthday dinner as he was in Romania for his birthday. He should be here in two hours or so." Victoire smiled and hopped around in excitement – something she didn't do often.

"Uncle Charlie's coming?" She asked excitedly. "I haven't seen him for almost a year!" Bill chuckled as Victoire danced around, twirling Dominique who had been listening to the news as well. It was obvious that Uncle Charlie was a big favourite in the Weasley-Delacour family – probably because he bought the girls exotic clothing and he brought Louis interesting treasures he found.

"Victoire!" The girl in question broke away from her dance with her sister as her mother stuck her head through the kitchen door, looking for her. "Victoire, please come and help me with the cooking? Dominique, go and help your brother and your uncles set up the tables outside – make sure they haven't done too much damage. Bill, darling, could you pop over to the Potters and check that it's Albus making the cake and not Ginny and James – you remember what happened at your birthday, right?" They all shuddered slightly at the memory of the exploding cake that had sent Bill to St. Mungo's.

A few hours later Victoire drew a dish of steaming hot toad-in-the-hole out of the oven and carried it carefully out to her waiting family outside. A small cheer went up when she put it down – her cooking rivalled Grandma Weasley's, especially her toad-in-the-hole. As she sat down as she looked up and noticed she had been placed right across the table from Teddy. Her stomach churned as she noticed the look he was giving her – a frown which clearly questioned why she was sitting there. Victoire wanted to cry with anger as she realised she had made his favourite dish without even thinking about it.

"So, Teddy, who's the girl this time?" James enquired around a mouthful of chicken when the girl Teddy had brought with him disappeared inside to use the bathroom. Victoire scowled at her plate. Teddy brought a different girl with him to every single family gathering they had and everyone had realised he was only doing it to spite Victoire.

"Her name's Eliza, she works in Flourish and Blotts," he said with a slightly boastful tone and Victoire had to bite her lip to prevent herself from scoffing. _Yes, Teddy, because an assistant at Flourish and Blotts was _so_ impressive. _"I'm going to go and see what's taking her so long," Teddy muttered and stood, ducking into the dark house but not before he shot Victoire a look that said: "Yeah, I'm over you. You can see that, can't you?"

"Victoire, darling," Bill called down the table and Victoire snapped out of her little daydream. "Could you start taking some of the empty dishes inside?" Victoire nodded and sent him a half-smile and then started to levitate some clean plates so she wouldn't break the china if she fell. She was just about to walk into the kitchen when she heard a few moans coming from the room she was about to enter. Anger painted her features and she stormed into the room, stopping in confusion when she didn't see Teddy making out with his latest girl – another thing he did at every family gathering. Then she noticed a shadow on the floor that wasn't hers and turned around slowly to see Teddy pressed against _darling Eliza _behind the door.

Rather than mutter something under her breath in French like usual, Victoire stood and watched them for a moment. It seemed as if Eliza was rather more feisty than the ones he usually made out with because she was pressing against him against the wall and, despite the fact that they were both fully clothed, Victoire felt rather uncomfortable. But Teddy didn't actually seem to be enjoying himself very much; his eyes were open and he was staring over Eliza's head at her.

Victoire immediately felt sick, and very sorry for Eliza. Teddy was doing this purposely to make her jealous – he didn't care for the girls he brought with him at all. She had lost count of just how many he had brought with him for one dinner and then broken up with over the smallest of things. She gazed at him, shaking her head in disbelief, and then ran from the house.

* * *

><p>"Don't you say a word," Victoire hissed at Teddy, glaring furiously at him. He turned away from her, staring out of the small window in the kitchen. "Nothing you can say will make any of this better – especially not the fact that you are <em>using <em>girls just to irritate me!" Her voice was low but very angry; various members of the Weasley-Potter clan were asleep in the living room and she didn't want them to wake to the sounds of an argument.

"Victoire…" Teddy trailed off when he noticed the murderous gaze she was directing his way.

"No! No matter what you say, no matter what charming words and sweet compliments you use, you will never make me forget that this is just how it happens now. I wonder… does it make you happy to think that I wake up every morning crying out your name because of how you've treated me. You didn't even _try _and get me back, Teddy! Instead you just started with your girl parade!" Victoire bit her lip in an attempt to stifle her outburst, having had no idea where it had come from. After she'd left his house that morning she hadn't seen him until Harry's birthday party and to say that had been awkward would be an understatement.

"You're blowing this out of proportion," Teddy muttered and she frowned at him, even as she pondered his statement. Was she really over-thinking it? He hadn't actually cheated on her and she had declared that they were on a break – did that give him the right to parade other girls in front of her? In some twisted universe far away it was probably alright but they weren't in that universe, they were in Victoire's and, more importantly, they were in her childhood home. She would not allow his disrespect here.

"Don't look at me like that," she snapped upon seeing his despondent puppy-dog eyed pout.

"Look, Victoire," he said, his voice soft and she sighed, preparing herself for the worst, "I don't mean to hurt you but you hurt me…"

"So, what? You're getting some sort of twisted revenge by hurting me in return?" Victoire scoffed.

"I'm not trying to hurt you on purpose!" Teddy shot back, getting louder. "You're mine – I would never do that!" A deadly silence met his words and Teddy's eyes widened as he realised what he'd said. "Victoire… wait, no, I didn't mean that…"

"Get out," she said, her voice quiet but lethal. He looked completely nonplussed – clearly he hadn't been expecting that.

"What? Victoire…"

"Get. Out. Of. My. House," she snapped each word clearly. "I belong to no one." When he didn't move, or reply, she pulled her wand out of her robes and started tapping it menacingly on the counter top. "Papa won't hesitate to cause you serious harm if he finds you're here against my wishes." Teddy's eyes widened at the thought of a confrontation with an angry Bill and he turned quickly and disappeared outside without a word.

Victoire wandered aimlessly through the house, wondering what was wrong with her. She'd had no idea what to say to him, really. What are you supposed to say to your sort-of ex on the subject of his making out with other girls to make her jealous? Was she even supposed to be jealous? They had broken up, for Merlin's sake, or they were at least on a break. She doubted Teddy would exactly be happy if she did something similar. Eventually, she decided it was alright for her to be angry – it was just plain wrong that he was using girls like that. Of course, it was only alright because her feelings weren't concerning herself… were they? After all that he'd done… she couldn't still love him. Could she?

She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts, but it was no use. She highly doubted she'd be able to forget Teddy's unnecessary possessiveness. Or the look on his face when she'd told him to get out…

"Vic?" Victoire was jolted out of her thoughts by Al who was curled up at the end of the largest sofa in the living room. The rest of the sofa was taken up by Scorpius who had passed out there are some point in the evening, after trying too much Firewhiskey and discovering he was a lightweight. He was now lying with his head hanging partially off the end near Albus, his mouth wide open as he snored quite loudly. Victoire suppressed a giggle at the sight of the usually composed boy and turned back to her cousin.

"What's up, Al? Need a hangover potion?" She asked, seeing the dark circles under his eyes. He shook his head and blinked owlishly at her.

"I'm fine, I had one bottle of Butterbeer – I just couldn't sleep because Scorp was kicking all night." He paused in his sentence to send a dark gaze in the direction of the still-snoring boy. "But don't worry about me – are you alright? I heard you and Teddy arguing in the kitchen. You weren't being as quiet as you both thought you were. Plus, you've got your deep thinking face on. What're you going to do?"

"I don't know, Al," Victoire said helplessly, plopping into one of the vacant chairs and looking at him hopefully. "What do you think I should do? You're good with advice. I don't know how much longer I can stay here if he's going to be around all the time…" There was a weird choking sound as Scorpius woke up and nearly fell off the sofa. He barely caught himself and had to roll onto the floor rather than pulling himself back up.

"Won't you stay?" He asked, trying to act as if nothing had happened but Albus was bright red in the face from laughing – silently; he didn't want to wake up the rest of the family. Scorpius shot a glare at his best friend who just laughed harder at the forlorn look on Scorpius's face as he regarded Victoire.

"No," she said decidedly, after giggling quietly at the entire sequence. "No, I don't think there's any way I can stay with the way Teddy's been acting – always making out with other girls. I think I'll go and stay with Gabrielle in France, just for a while." Albus couldn't control himself – he burst out laughing at the look of pure depression on Scorpius's face. The younger boy swore at his friend and turned back to Victoire, a calculating smirk on his face. Victoire prepared herself for his latest scheme.

"You know, you could always give him a taste of his own medicine," he suggested evilly and Victoire forced herself not to roll her eyes – the normal Scorpius was back. "You know, if you needed someone to make him jealous with I'm free anytime." Albus didn't bother holding back on the eye-roll, he pushed Scorpius off the sofa he'd just sat back down on. Scorpius appeared unruffled and blew Victoire a kiss from his new position on the floor.

"I mean, the amount of times I've caught him with a different girl – especially when he blatantly puts himself in a place where I _will _find him – is getting to a point that I really do not know what to say: to him, to the girl, to anyone! This morning he came over just to get some leftovers from last night – the cheek – and I may as well have just told him to leave but I didn't because he started that argument!" Victoire raged, and then winced and lowered her voice as she remembered that there were other people still asleep in the house.

"So you're definitely going then?" Albus asked sadly and Victoire nodded decisively. "I'll miss you."

"So will I," Scorpius said earnestly as he pulled himself up into a sitting position on the floor. Victoire and Albus both looked at him with shocked faces, curious by the lack of sarcasm and sneer. "What?" He asked innocently and they both sighed.

"It's for the best," Victoire sighed.


	3. Born This Way

"Victoire! Eet eez dinner time!" Victoire was startled out of her daydreams by the sound of her aunt calling her down to eat. Sighing, she stood slowly and paced lightly down the stairs.

"What are we having tonight?" Victoire asked as she sat at the small table and looked up at Gabrielle who grinned and flourished two menus. She held back a chuckle as she plucked one of the muggle takeaway menus from her aunt and began to scan it. Gabrielle hadn't inherited her mother's love for cooking and wasn't too brilliant with cooking by magic either, so she mostly relied on muggle takeaways and her lovely neighbours who were more than happy to help the beautiful woman. It didn't hurt that the part-Veela had surrounded herself by men, who could cook, and wasn't afraid to use her looks to her advantage.

"Or I'm sure I could ask for a favour from one of my charming neighbours, eef you do not want Chinese again?" Gabrielle checked by Victoire shook her head and gave her back the menu.

"I'll have chicken stir fry, please," she requested and wandered through to the living room as her aunt picked up the phone and dialled the number on the back of the menu. Gabrielle had moved to live on the edge of the border with Monaco once she had graduated from Beauxbatons and she happily lived alone in a roomy villa on the coast. Right now, Victoire was curled up on the window seat, watching the waves toss outside, and wondering if there was something about Delacours which drew them to the ocean. Grandmamma and Grandpapa Delacour lived in a small cottage on the edge of Nice which was practically on the beach; she had grown up in the little house near Tinworth; and she had always promised herself that she would live on the coast when she had a house of her own. Of course, when she had been making those plans she thought Teddy would be a part of her future, but that had changed now.

"Victoire, you 'ave been 'ere for over a week now… When are you going to tell me what eez wrong?" Gabrielle walked over to sit beside her niece and looked at her imploringly, her blue eyes widening as she attempted to read what Victoire was thinking. "Eez eet something to do with zat Teddy boy?" Victoire's stomach immediately twisted at the mention of his name and something must have shown on her face because her aunt pounced. "Eet eez! What did 'e do?"

Victoire frowned and shook her head, drawing into herself. She didn't want to talk about Teddy – she had managed to avoid the topic for more than a week now so couldn't she hide from it for a little while longer? He was just so… so infuriating. He followed her everywhere she went and it seemed that everything she saw reminded her of him. She had seen a lizard the other day and thought it was a chameleon and then immediately jumped from there to thoughts of Teddy changing his hair and facial expressions just to amuse her.

"Victoire, I know zat eef eet eez because 'e 'as 'urt you or been disloyal zen eet eez unexplainable 'ow 'urt you are feeling." Victoire took a moment to try and decipher what her aunt was saying – her accent was a lot more pronounced than her mother's and her grandparents usually just spoke in French when they stayed, because it was easier.

"It's not that he was disloyal to me, well not this time to my knowledge. He cheated before, the first time we went out, but he didn't this time. Not that I know of anyway. But he was dreaming of someone who wasn't me and I confronted him and he got angry and annoyed and I told him we were on a break and then it was more like we'd broken up than being on a break because he started bringing all these different girls to dinner and such – a different girl for every dinner – and I would always catch him kissing them in an obvious place and the place were obvious because it was clear he was just doing it there so I would catch him and then the other day I caught him kissing one girl who seemed really nice but he wasn't even looking at her, he was looking over her head at me and I felt sick because it was so obvious he was using her, and every single girl before her. And then the next morning I found him in the kitchen and we had a big argument and he said something about not wanting to hurt me because I belonged to him and I snapped and told him to go away and Gabrielle, I don't know what to do!" Victoire ranted and then collapsed back against the wall, panting slightly from her outburst. Gabrielle stared at her in shock for several long moments, clearly trying to decide what to say.

"Well… Zat is quite ze situation. 'Ow do you feel about zis boy?" She asked quietly and Victoire stared at her, wondering if her aunt had gone quite mad. Wasn't it obvious how she felt about him from her little speech? "Do not give me zat look, Victoire. I was once in a very similar situation with a boy, and I still loved 'im. Of course, zat was years ago and things 'ave changed now but the important question is 'ow do you feel about 'im?" Gabrielle looked at her niece's face curiously, watching for any change in her expression as she thought.

"I don't know. I used to think I was in love with him and that I'd marry him one day – he was so kind to me. He made me feel beautiful every single day and he always told me the sweetest things – he once said I was the most perfect person he'd met and that there was just nothing wrong with me at all. But then he'd say something without thinking about it and it would be hurtful and we'd fight." Victoire shook her head and frowned at the window.

"Did you believe 'im?" Gabrielle asked and Victoire looked at her aunt with confusion clear across her features. "When 'e told you zat you were beautiful, flawless, did you believe 'im?"

"Well, Auntie Gabry," Victoire sounded very young as she addressed her aunt by the name she hadn't called her for at least ten years, "I've always been self-confident because, you know, everyone was born a certain way and I believe that, no matter who we are, we should all feel beautiful. But yes, I did believe him." Victoire let out a gentle sigh of confusion. "There are feelings of love for him, still, but they're not as strong as they were."

"Ah, Victoire," Gabrielle breathed, delicately scratching the back of her neck, "I'm usually good at dealing with feelings like zis but, alas, I 'ave no idea what to suggested. You are not going to like eet, but I think you need to leave 'ere and talk to zis Teddy boy – or else you will never sort eet out." Gabrielle nodded wisely and stood up just as the doorbell rang, announcing that their dinner had arrived.

"Look, my beautiful niece," Gabrielle said as they sat down to tuck into their Chinese, "Teddy, 'e 'as 'urt you in ze past, but perhaps 'e will behave better in ze future? I don't know. But eef you still have zese feelings of love, you say, zen you should tell 'im and settle everything between you two." Gabrielle nodded firmly and Victoire exhaled noisily, and then shrugged.

"I guess you're right," she murmured and stood up to clear the plates. Gabrielle waved her away and stood in front of her with her hands on her niece's shoulders.

"Go and pack your things, and you can go through ze fireplace and settle things with your Teddy." Victoire nodded, blushed, and disappeared upstairs with a small smile on her face. Because, after all, he _was _her Teddy and she probably had been blowing the whole thing out of proportion and he'd only been trying to make her jealous because he loved her.

Right?


End file.
